How to reserve an IP address on a NetGear WGR614 wireless router

If your network uses a NetGear WGR614 wireless router, you can monitor and modify the router's settings through NetGear's SmartWizard Router Manager software.  There are many things you can do from the Router Manager.  This article will guide you through setting up a reserved IP address for a specific device on your network.

The Router Manager is accessed through a web browser, so open up a new browser window (Firefox, Internet Explorer, or any other web browser you prefer) and in the address bar at the top, type in your router's IP address.  (This is also your gateway IP address.)  For most small office and home networks, the router's IP address is probably the default address used when it was set up: 192.168.1.1.  If that IP address doesn't work and you don't know what the router's IP address is, this article can help you find it:

- How to find the IP address of a router

If you have a username and password set up for your router, you'll be prompted to enter them now.  If you've never changed these settings, then you can use the default credentials: admin for the username, and password for the password.  Once you've entered the correct information, you'll be logged into the Router Manager.

The Router Manager is broken up into three panes.  In the purple sidebar on the left side of the page, scroll down until you see the Advanced heading.  Under this heading, click on LAN Setup.  The LAN Setup page will load in the center pane of your browser.

Scroll down to the bottom of this pane, where you'll see a heading labeled Address Reservation.  There will be a table below the heading that shows any current IP address reservations - if you've never used this function before, that table will be empty.  Below the table, click the gray Add button.  (You may be prompted to enter your password again.)

The Address Reservation screen will load in the center pane, and you'll see a list of any devices (other than the router itself) currently connected to your network.  You can select any of these devices if the one you want to set up a reserved address for is on this list; otherwise you'll have to enter the device's information in the fields below the list.  If you choose a device from the list, the other fields will be populated with the information contained for that entry, so you won't have to enter it in yourself.

In the first field (IP Address) enter the IP address you want to reserve.  (Make sure this address is not already in use.)  Then fill in the next two fields with the device's information (MAC Address and Device Name).  If you're not sure how to find your device's MAC address, this article will help you find it:

- How to find the MAC address of a device

Once you have entered all of the information, click the Add button to set up the reservation.  If you want to clear out all of the fields and start over, click Refresh, or if you want to exit out without adding the reservation, click Cancel.

You should now see your reserved IP address on the Address Reservation table.  You can edit or delete this entry (or add another reserved address) at any time by using the buttons below the table.  When you are finished making changes, click the Apply button at the bottom of that pane to save your changes.

(Originally published on Helium.com in slightly different form, December 2010)